[File Photo]

Fiji, traditionally a non-remittance country, is increasingly becoming a remittance economy with thousands of citizens heading to work overseas.

This has been stated in the World Food Programme’s Price Monitoring
Bulletin Mid-year review.

The review states emigration from Fiji dramatically increased immediately after the 1987 coup, reaching a net migration rate of –20.8 in 1991.

With the stabilization of the political situation in the country, emigration slowed down throughout the 90s, closing the last century with a net migration rate of -7.3.

However, it says the launch of Seasonal Labour Mobility Schemes in Australia and New Zealand in the early 2000s initiated a new emigration wave from Fiji, with the net migration rate deteriorating progressively until 2019 (-12.8), when the COVID-19 pandemic put on hold any movement in and out of the country.

Since then, the net migration rate stabilized at -6.5.

The review states that at the 2023 National Economic Summit, the Permanent Secretary for Finance announced that in 2022 Fiji lost close to 22,000 people, excluding residents living on student visas.

Despite the irregular migration pattern over the past 50 years, the relative weight of personal remittances as a percentage of the total GDP has been increasing for the past decade, and the trend drastically accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It adds that this means that despite the number of migrants plummeting due to travel restrictions, family members who migrated in previous years increased the amount of money transferred back to Fiji.

Currently, remittances supplement household incomes as well and they are a major and reliable source of foreign exchange.

In 2022, total remittances reached 1040 million FJD, accounting for 9.4% of the nominal GDP.

Remittances increased steadily throughout 2022, with an average percentage increase of 25% compared to 2021.

The review says such a trend continued also in the first months of 2023, with 99 million FJD transferred as remittances in March, an increase by 36% compared to March 2022.

The top three countries of origin for remittances are Australia, the United States, and New Zealand.

Stream the best of Fiji on VITI+. Anytime. Anywhere.